Oh, how I wish I could be two years old again for just a short while.

If I were, I would lay down on the floor and throw a fit to rival anyone in the terrible two's! I would scream and beat my hands and feet against the floor. I would cry and shake and wail my frustration for the whole world to see and hear.

Alas, I am far from two years old.

Today, I continued working on the press release. I had drafted one of our own and had all parties in agreement that we would coordinate press releases. Then...the VP of Real Estate came in and decided that separate press releases would undermine the budding partnership. I had carefully crafted a message that clearly complimented the other one. Having a mulitple notice approach to the press is also advantageous. This is my job. I had a plan and successfully navigated the course with all parties involved...until someone came along and said that "we" were doing only one release. That one decision undid all my work and I had to work with the other communications person to create the combined press release, which also prolonged the time she had to work on this project.

ARGH!

I do think that I made another "communications buddy" through all of this. She, too, was equally frustrated at the last minute notice and non-communications approach to the press release. We commiserated together and then complimented each other on making the best of the situation. When I asked how she had succeeded in communications for 10 years, she answered rather bluntly that "Some times you have to just suck it up."

While I recognize the value of her answer, I cannot help but rail against the fact that letting go of my work often means watching mediocrity reign. I am lousy when it comes to doing something less than my best.

In the midst of all of this, I finished the donor analysis and drafted, reviewed with the president, printed, copied, and mailed the outstanding contribution acknowledgement letters. It was a tremendous amount of work. At the end, when the president was reviewing the three spreadsheets I created for him, he smiled, nodded his head, and muttered that it was just what he needed to take to the chairman of the board. I am small enough that I would have preferred a real acknowledgement of the work than the abrupt change to another matter. That I got to see that it was a job well done should have been enough for me, eh?

Well, not if you are two!

I am juggling work and have not even managed to start even one of my outstanding tasks that I had so hoped I would get to do this week. I want to be strategic and systematic about my work. I truly dislike being reactionary. Will I ever get to the communications and knowledge foundation that this organization genuinely needs?

Oh, how I wish I were two. And if I were...then all the cookies I have been consuming would not matter at all!